Chapter 29 Knock it off.Callie snapped back to reality, hurriedly adjusting her expression and smiling, "Oh, it's nothing."
Just then, it was work time, and Belinda arrived.
Seeing her, Callie was about to open the car door when Shane grabbed her hand. "If we're going to pretend, we need to do it right."
Callie looked utterly confused. She blinked her clear, bright eyes.
Before she could say anything, Shane had already moved closer.
Instinctively, she tried to step back, but Shane wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into his embrace with a charming smile. "We're supposed to be a couple. We need to act like one."
Callie swallowed hard, meeting his ambiguous gaze, her cheeks growing warm.
Shane lowered his eyelids, his thick lashes casting shadows, his eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky. "Kiss me."
Callie, "..."
Henry, "..."
...
The air seemed to freeze for a moment!
Shane reminded her, "Belinda is here. Don't you want to make her jealous?"
Callie bit her lip, embraced herself, and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, bringing her lips to his.
The moment her lips touched his, Shane felt a strong sense of deja vu
That night, that woman had held him in the same way...
Callie's lips brushed against his briefly before pulling away.
Shane didn't even have time to savor it.
"I have to go," she said, pushing open the car door.
Belinda stood in front of the car, seemingly having witnessed the entire scene.
Her face was a mix of pale and flushed, looking as awful as one could imagine.
Seeing Belinda's discomfort, jealousy, anger, and frustration, Callie felt that everything she had done was worth it.
She lifted her head, straightened her back, and walked towards the hospital entrance.
At that moment, Shane rolled down the car window and smiled gently, "I'll pick you up after work tonight."
Henry, sitting in the front seat, almost immediately turned his head.
The young nurses and female doctors arriving for their shifts at the entrance cast envious glances their way.
After all, Shane was the youngest billionaire around.
He had both wealth and looks!
To be treated gently and carefully by such a man was every woman's dream, wasn't it?
Belinda clenched her fists, the veins on the back of her hands bulging. She gritted her teeth and strode inside.
She couldn't confront Shane, because she wasn't in a position to do so.
"Do you like Miss Norris?" Henry noticed that Shane had been paying too much attention to Callie.
But he didn't expect that he would...
Shane slowly lifted his eyelids. "Why, are you interested?"
Henry quickly clarified, "No." Then he added, "Didn't you say Miss Norris wasn't pure?"
From what he knew about Shane, he wouldn't accept a woman like that, right?
"Haven't I had women before?"
So, did that mean he and Callie were even?
Henry had nothing more to say. He started the car and drove away.
At the hospital.
Belinda cornered Callie against the wall. "What do you mean by this? trying to intimidate me?"
"Belinda, you and I had no quarrel, but you came after me first. I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine!" Callie didn't show any fear.
Instead, she stood her ground, strong and unyielding!
Perhaps it was the strength that only a mother could possess!
Belinda didn't deny it. "I just wanted to see if your child is Shane's, that's all."
Callie's eyes turned red with anger as she slapped Belinda hard across the face!
Smack! The sound was crisp and loud!
"How dare you hit me?" Belinda was stunned by the slap.
She never expected Callie to actually lay a hand on her!
Callie's palm was numb from the force, her eyes blazing with fury. "You're a doctor. You should know that with my pregnancy being so early, doing a genetic testing could cause a miscarriage at any moment. Hitting you? That's the least I could do!"
If anything happened to her baby, she would never forgive her!
Belinda had never suffered such a loss before and couldn't stand the humiliation!
Her eyes turned red with rage. "Callie!"
Just as she raised her hand to strike back, someone grabbed her wrist!
She turned around to see Gabriel.
Stammering, she said, "You... you, what are you doing here?"
Gabriel shoved her aside. "If I weren't here, would you think you could do whatever you want?"
Belinda pointed at Callie, "She hit me first! Can't you see my face?"
Gabriel saw it, but he also heard the truth, "But you were the one who hurt her unborn child first, weren't you?"
Belinda was left speechless!
Fuming, she turned around but didn't forget to glare at Callie, "Don't think you've won!"
Once Belinda walked away, Callie finally allowed her tense nerves to relax.
Gabriel looked at her, "What's going on with you? Are you pregnant? Whose child is it? Is it Shane's?"
Callie shook her head, "No, it's not."
"Then whose is it?" Gabriel's voice rose an octave.
Realizing he was too agitated, he lowered his voice, "You don't even have a boyfriend. How could you be pregnant?"
Callie lowered her head, "Please don't ask."
"How can I not ask? You're not married, and now you're pregnant. Are you planning to raise the child alone? Tell me, who is the man? Did he abandon you? I'll go teach him a lesson!" Gabriel was utterly shocked by the news of Callie's pregnancy.
In Gabriel's memory, Callie Norris was always a conservative and self-respecting girl.
But now, she was pregnant.
"I don't know either," she confessed, struggling to speak about that day but not hiding anything from Gabriel. "I married Shane, secretly. We didn't marry out of love. My dad wanted to form an alliance with the Robinson family. My grandfather saved Shane's grandfather's life, and my dad used that favor to force the Robinson family into agreeing."
Gabriel wasn't entirely surprised.
Ever since he found out that Callie knew Shane, he sensed something was off.
He just didn't expect that Callie was forced to become Shane Robinson's wife.
And he knew a bit about Callie's father. He had always treated Callie poorly.
"And the baby?" Gabriel asked.
Callie found it incredibly difficult to talk about this matter.
"I..."
"Were you... raped?" Gabriel asked, immediately realizing he had been too blunt.
He quickly tried to explain, "I didn't mean it like that, I was just—"
"No," Callie Norris wasn't angry. The words were harsh, but they were close to the truth.
The only difference was that it wasn't forced. "I did it willingly. I don't know who the man was."
Gabriel's facial muscles twitched. "If Shane finds out about this, do you think you'll survive? You're carrying another man's child and still plan to be his wife? With his pride, he would strangle you!"
Callie hadn't thought about that. She had just found out she was pregnant!
"Help me keep this a secret for now. I'm not afraid of Shane divorcing me, but my mom hasn't fully recovered yet. I don't want her to know about this right now. At least wait until she's better. After the divorce, I'll leave here and move to another city."
With the money Rafael gave her, she could settle down. Plus, she could still work.
Gabriel tried to persuade her, "It's best if you terminate the pregnancy."
"You don't even know who the father is. Why would you keep the baby? Are you out of your mind?" Gabriel's frustration was evident, like he was scolding someone who just couldn't get it right.
Callie gave a bitter smile. "The child is mine."
It had grown inside her. How could she give up her own flesh and blood?
She lifted her head to look at Gabriel. "I'm not feeling well. I want to get checked to see if the baby is okay."
"I'll arrange it for you," Gabriel said. Although he didn't agree with her decision to keep the baby, he couldn't bear to see her suffer.
After they left, Belinda emerged from the shadows.
Her eyes gleamed with understanding. "So that's how it is!"
She hadn't actually left earlier; she had hidden and listened.
Now everything made sense. Although Callie and Shane were married, they didn't love each other. The child was Shane's, but Callie didn't know that.
She had conceived on that night.
Shane didn't know it was Callie that night, even though they were husband and wife!
"Haha..." she laughed gleefully. "After all these twists and turns, the opportunity is still mine!"
After work that evening, she went to Skyreach Corporation and waited at the entrance to block Shane's path.
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